All women bench in Supreme Court today for the third time in history

The Supreme Court will be privy to a rare event today - a bench comprising only women judges will sit in courtroom no. 11 of the top court. .The bench will comprise Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Bela M TrivediIt will hear ten transfer petitions, ten bail cases, nine civil and three criminal cases.This will be the third time ever in the Supreme Court's history that a bench of woman judges will be hearing cases..The first was in 2013 when Justices Gyan Sudha Misra and Ranjana Prakash Desai sat together temporarily due to the absence of another judge..The second was in 2018, when Justices R Banumathi and Indira Banerjee adorned a bench..In the history of the Supreme Court, there have been a mere eleven woman judges. Justice Fathima Beevi was the first woman judge who was elevated to the Supreme Court. That was in the year 1989..Following Justice Beevi’s lead was Justice Sujatha Manohar, followed by Justices Ruma Pal, and more recently Justices Gyan Sudha Misra, Ranjana Prakash Desai, R Banumathi, Indu Malhotra, Indira Banerjee, Hima Kohli, BV Nagarathna and Bela Trivedi.Among these judges, Justices Beevi, Manohar and Pal spent their time in Supreme Court as sole woman judge throughout their tenures..Justice Beevi retired in 1992 and Justice Sujata Manohar was elevated to Supreme Court only in 1994. Justice Sujata Manohar retired in 1999 and Justice Ruma Pal came, but only in 2000. Justice Pal retired in 2006 and Supreme Court had no woman judge for a long time till Justice Gyan Sudha Misra was made Supreme court judge in 2010.This trend of one sitting woman judge was broken only in 2011 when Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai was elevated to the bench. She became the second sitting woman judge along with Justice Gyan Sudha Misra. It was the first time the Supreme Court had more than one woman sitting judge. It was also when these two woman judges sat together thus becoming the first all-women bench..Justice Gyan Sudha Misra retired in April 2014 and Justice Desai continued as the sole woman sitting judge for sometime till Justice Banumathi was made Supreme Court judge in August 2014.Subsequently, Justice Ranjana Desai and Justice Banumathi were sitting judges for a short period before Justice Desai retired..Justice Banumathi then continued as the sole woman judge on the bench till Justice Indu Malhotra was elevated in April 2018. Shortly after that, Justice Indira Banerjee was appointed and the top court had three sitting women judges till Justice Banumathi's retirement in July 2020..For the period from August 2021 to September 2022, the Supreme Court saw a historical first with four sitting women judges - Justices Indira Banerjee, Hima Kohli, BV Nagarathna and Bela Trivedi..With Justice Banerjee retiring in September this year, the number has again fallen to three.

All women bench in Supreme Court today for the third time in history

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